Baseball Headline

Sunday March 23, 2008Baseball Takes Series Over No. 8 Ole Miss, 10-2

Florida freshman
right-hander Tommy Toledo (Tampa, Fla.) (4-0) limited eighth-ranked Ole
Miss (15-8/3-3 SEC) to one run over a career-high seven innings and the Gator
offense used a four-run second inning and a three-run homer by freshman Josh Adams (Jacksonville, Fla.) in the
fifth to post a 10-2 victory on Sunday afternoon in the rubber game of the
weekend series at Oxford-University Stadium at Swayze Field. Head coach Kevin OíSullivanís
squad bounced back from a heartbreaking 5-4 setback on Friday night to take the
final two contests from UM.

Florida
(17-4/5-1 SEC) had not won a series in Oxford since taking two of three games
over March 28-30, 1997, and has now captured its first two SEC series for the
first time since 2004 and just the third time since the 1994 campaign. Toledo permitted six hits
in working at least five innings for the fifth-straight start and lowered his
earned run average to 1.93. The Orange and Blue
banged out 14 hits, as senior Brandon
McArthur (Seffner, Fla.)
went 3-for-4 and scored twice and the quartet of Adams, sophomore ColeFigueroa (Tallahassee, Fla.),
sophomore Buddy Munroe (Miami,
Fla.) and senior Jon Townsend (London,
Ky.) chipped in with two hits
apiece.

For the
third-straight day, the Gators opened the scoring by sending 10 batters to the
plate and reaching UM sophomore Nathan Baker (1-3) for four runs on two hits
and an error in the second inning. Adams drew
a leadoff walk and moved to second on a fielding error by sophomore second
baseman Zach Miller. With runners on second and third after the play, Townsendlegged out a bunt that brought across Adams. McArthur rifled a double down the right-field line
to drive in Bamberg
and give UF runners on second and third. Sophomore Matt den Dekker(Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.)
had an RBI grounder and Munroe followed with a sacrifice fly to center for a
4-0 margin. ††

Ole Miss tallied
a run in the fourth against Toledo
courtesy of redshirt freshman Matt Smithís single through the left side that
scored junior Logan Power. Power had opened the frame with a double to left and
Smith drove him in with his 14th RBI. Toledo
retired the next three hitters on pop ups to keep the Gators ahead by three
runs.

Adams launched a three-run homer in the fifth to expand the
Gatorsí lead to 7-1 and end the afternoon for Baker (4.1 IP, 8 H, 7 R, 5 ER). Junior Avery
Barnes (High Springs, Fla.)
raised his hitting streak to 13 games with an infield single and Figueroa had a
single before a double steal put Florida
in prime position. Adams then sent Bakerís 2-2
pitch into the bullpen for his team-leading fifth
round-tripper. †

Munroe
belted his first dinger with two down in the sixth off freshman Drew Pomeranz for an 8-1 cushion. The Gators later tacked on two
more runs on three hits and another Ole Miss error in the eighth to build a 10-1
margin. McArthur and den Dekker had consecutive one-out singles and each moved
into scoring position on a balk by Pomeranz. Munroe added
an RBI single to score McArthur, while den Dekker was gunned down at the plate
trying to score. Munroe took second on the relay throw, went to third on a wild
pitch and came home on a fielding error on Barnesí grounder.

Overbeck
collected his seventh homer with one down in the eighth off junior Stephen Locke (Tampa, Fla.)
to finalize the 10-2 score. The solo shot came one at bat after Overbeck had extended his hitting streak to 23 games,
second-longest in UM history. The Gators return to McKethan
Stadium on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m., when they host Jacksonville (13-7/7-5 Atlantic Sun) in the
opener of a home and home series.